Written by Andrew Jefford
The last time I blind-tasted 35 top Australian Chardonnays, the wine which seemed to me to proclaim regional origins more clearly than any was the 2010 vintage of Penfold’s Bin 311, which came in that vintage from Tumbarumba.
...There’s only one little winery in the region, belonging to a consortium of growers and run by the talented young winemaker Adrian Brayne, whose 2010 Obsession Chardonnay (just a single barrel, fermented with wild yeast, with 18 months on lees and full malo) was perhaps the most exciting and ambitious Chardonnay I tried there. Adrian is the son of Jim Brayne of McWilliams, who personally owns the highest vineyard in the region (at 842 m); Cathy’s own vineyard is at 730 m; others dip down to 450 m.
